Umar Khalid, Anirban Bhattacharya return to JNU after getting bail

JNU students Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya, arrested last month for sedition, walked out of Tihar Jail hours after they were granted interim bail for six months by a Delhi court today.

The court, while granting the relief to the two doctoral students from JNU, asked them to furnish a personal bond of Rs 25,000 each. The court also asked the two not to leave Delhi during the period of their bail.

Khalid and Bhattacharya had surrendered before the police on February 22 following a massive standoff after the arrest of JNU students union president Kanhaiya Kumar on February 12.

The three students, along with others, have been accused of organising a seminar in the memory of Parliament attacks convict Afzal Guru on the JNU campus on February 9 during which anti-national slogans were allegedly raised.

A jubilant Kanhaiya told India Today TV that the students in JNU are planning a victory march tonight. "We have full faith in the Indian judiciary," he said. Kanhaiya, who since his release on March 3 has been leading the protest to get Khalid and Bhattacharya out of jail, will be speaking at the India Today Conclave 2016 today.

A high level inquiry committee instituted by the JNU administration, in its report submitted earlier this week, found that on February 8, a booking requisition form was filled out by Khalid for the Guru event. An undertaking was signed by four students: Khalid, Komal Mohite, Anirban Bhattacharya and Aswathi A Nair.

The form had to be approved by the rector, the approving authority. Mohite took the form, which sought permission to hold a 'Poetry Reading - A Country Without a Post Office' at the Sabarmati Dhaba on February 9 from 5 pm to 7.30 pm, to Professor Anupama Ray to have it forwarded by her.

Khalid took the form to the dean of students but as he was not available, the additional dean of students signed it. The form had to be sent to the rector for approval, but was never taken to his office.

In the report it mentions that as per many eyewitness accounts, Kanhaiya, Rama Naga and Bhattacharya addressed the gathering but what they said was not audible.